Who Wins When It's Squirrel vs. Hawk?

I would be remiss to not tell you what just happened. It was one of the most amazingly cool things I've seen in awhile.

On the way back to my apartment from class I am required to walk through what's called the Knoll Area. It's basically an part of campus where there's, well, knolls and trees surrounded by classroom buildings on one side and the fence separating the University from Dinkytown on the other side. In the Knoll Area lives a community of squirrels with distinct, peculiar social qualities (see Tuesday's post).

This morning I was approaching this area and witnessed something that I haven't seen on campus before: a hawk. He flew in and out of view and I had already forgotten that I'd seen him by the time I arrived at the Knoll. As I was walking, however, I saw him again, so I stopped to watch what he was up to.

He was harassing a poor squirrel, but couldn't quite nab him. So he sat in a nearby tree and waited for the next opportunity to catch what he deemed his prey. Suddenly, he swoops in and tackles the squirrel, bracing him in his talons while sitting in the grass. He just sat there, wings outstretched, doing what looked like some sort of a choking maneuver. To add insult to injury, he even pecked at the furry little guy once or twice.

Now, I'm empathetic towards animals. I'm definitely not the "hunter" type—I always feel depressed when I see one come to harm. So I was feeling pretty bad for the squirrel, but I let nature run its course, and so also were the handful of people that had stopped to watch this heartbreaking spectacle.

But then something amazing, daring, and outright hilarious happened.

A squirrel that had been watching this all go down from a nearby tree sprung in to action. He leaped from his branch and quickly bounded towards the hawk with all the aggression that one can possibly exude while bounding. Once at the scene, he lept towards the hawk. Now, all the hawk would have had to do was deliver one, good peck to the head and the agressor would have been off his back. But no, the hawk—most likely dazed and confused—tried to make his escape with his prey. Unfortunately for him it proved too heavy, so he dropped his victim and flew into a nearby tree. But it didn't end there. The daring hero ran up into the tree after the predator and subsequently spooked the hawk so much that he flew right out of the Knoll Area, possibly never to be seen again.

Of course, my attention was drawn to the little furry lump laying in the grass where the hawk was previously. I was happy to see, however, that lump finally stir, sit up, spin around in circles, and slowly bound around in what appared to be an uninjured, albeit sore, manner.

Furry, Forgetful Little Knoll Squirrels: 1
Hawk With Sharp Beak and Talons: 0